Washington: More than half of the terror attacks in the world in 2016 took place in five countries, including India and Pakistan, a senior US counter-terror official has said.
Justin Siberell, Acting Coordinator for Counter-terrorism, in a media briefing on the release of the Country Reports on Terrorism by the US State Department, also said that the total number of terror attacks in 2016 were lower than in 2015.
"And although terrorist attacks took place in 104 countries in 2016, they were heavily concentrated geographically, as they have been for the past several years."
"Fifty-five per cent of all attacks took place in Iraq, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines, and 75 per cent of all deaths due to terrorist attacks took place in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Nigeria, and Pakistan," Mr Siberell said.
He also said the total number of terrorist attacks in 2016 decreased by 9 per cent, and total deaths due to terrorist attacks decreased by 13 per cent compared to 2015.
"This was largely due to fewer attacks and deaths from terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, Syria, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Yemen. At the same time, there was an increase in terrorist attacks and total deaths in several countries, including Iraq, Somalia, and Turkey."
He said the ISIS was responsible for more attacks and deaths than any other group in 2016. In 2015, it was the Taliban that was responsible for more attacks and deaths.
He pointed out that the statistics were compiled by the University of Maryland and "they are not a US government product".
To a question, Mr Siberell said: "The broad trend, however, is a slight decrease from 2015, and that -- in 2015 had a slight decrease from 2014. 2014, of course, was a year of significant increase -- really a spike, frankly -- in global terrorist attacks due largely to the -- coinciding with the rise of ISIS, vicious attacks in Nigeria conducted by Boko Haram, etc."
Justin Siberell, Acting Coordinator for Counter-terrorism, in a media briefing on the release of the Country Reports on Terrorism by the US State Department, also said that the total number of terror attacks in 2016 were lower than in 2015.
"And although terrorist attacks took place in 104 countries in 2016, they were heavily concentrated geographically, as they have been for the past several years."
He also said the total number of terrorist attacks in 2016 decreased by 9 per cent, and total deaths due to terrorist attacks decreased by 13 per cent compared to 2015.
Advertisement
He said the ISIS was responsible for more attacks and deaths than any other group in 2016. In 2015, it was the Taliban that was responsible for more attacks and deaths.
Advertisement
To a question, Mr Siberell said: "The broad trend, however, is a slight decrease from 2015, and that -- in 2015 had a slight decrease from 2014. 2014, of course, was a year of significant increase -- really a spike, frankly -- in global terrorist attacks due largely to the -- coinciding with the rise of ISIS, vicious attacks in Nigeria conducted by Boko Haram, etc."
COMMENTS
Advertisement
PM Modi Chairs Security Meet Amid Rising Terror Attacks In Jammu Indian Envoy Assures Support To Bring Back Body Of Citizen Killed In Oman Mosque Shooting ISIS Claims Responsibility For Oman Mosque Attack "Jindal Group Executive Showed Porn, Groped Me On Flight": Woman To NDTV Over 300 Indian Students Return Home As 105 Bangladeshis Killed In Protests Massive Worldwide Microsoft Outage: Flights, Markets, Stock Exchange Down Wife, Parents To Get Equal Compensation If Madhya Pradesh Cop Dies On Duty Bangladesh Imposes Curfew, Deploys Military As 105 Die In Protests Tesla Halted Some Production Lines Due To Global IT Outage: Report Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.